A Father Son Online Journal

Eastern Slope Inn’s Nature Trails

Alex and I took advantage of the fine weather today to stretch our legs on the Eastern Slope Inn‘s Nature Trails. Right in downtown North Conway this short fitness trail (River Walk Trail) starts just behind the resort and runs between the beautiful North Conway Country Club and River Rd, ending at the Saco River.

Eastern Slope Inn Nature Trails

Despite being a very short mellow walk this trip marks the first hike that I didn’t bring the kid carrier or stroller. Alex would be 100% self propelled from start to finish!

Off to a running start

Right after leaving the parking lot Alex spotted his first moose! Human statues tend to freak him out a bit so I was surprised with how cool has was with this monster.

The Moose!

Educational

This nature trail doubles as a fitness trail, so every 200 feet or so we came across a fitness station. Alex decided at each one what he would do. On this one meant for sit-ups he would do 1 push up on each of the 4 bars. It was quite comical when an older couple walked by and saw Alex “working out”.

Alex doing push-ups

After reaching the river we started back and decided to explore the golf course a bit. I don’t think they are open this late in the season, and there were no signs warning us of trespassing so I assumed it was ok.

Plenty of room to run!

Posing with Whitehorse Ledge in the background

Sandbox Daddy!

Shadow fun

Well that much fun had us ready for lunch so we headed over to one of our favorite lunch sports, The Chef’s Market. Michelle walked over from work to meet us and we caught up with owners Byrant and Patti who couldn’t believe how quickly Alex has reached toddler-hood. After a scrumptious lunch we headed for home, and Alex slept for a solid 3 hours after completing his first self-propelled hike!

Tired boy after lunch

Being surrounded by hundreds of miles of White Mountain National Forest trails can make me overlook these small nature walk adventures that are so simple and quick to pull off! Not everything has to be a 4000 footer adventure (I’m learning). I expect now that Alex can handle walking almost a full mile on flat terrain we’ll be doing a lot more of these soon!

Do you have a short nature walk in your area you love? If so let us know in a comment below!